No trial date set in case of Pasco movie theater shooting

DADE CITY — No trial date was set at today's pretrial hearing for Curtis Reeves Jr., the former Tampa police captain arrested in January for the fatal shooting of a Land O' Lakes man in a Wesley Chapel movie theater.

Instead, another pretrial hearing will take place July 9 to determine if both sides are ready to move forward with a trial. Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa said he is targeting a fall trial in the second-degree murder case against Reeves, 71.

Reeves did not appear in court this morning, but was represented by attorney Dino Michaels.

Reeves, who waived his right to a speedy trial, remains in the Land O' Lakes Jail with no bond.

Investigators said Reeves confronted Oulson and left the theater to complain to a manager. Once he returned to his seat, the men exchanged words. Investigators said popcorn was thrown before Reeves pulled a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol from his pants' pocket and fired one shot into Oulson's chest.

The bullet also struck Oulson's wife, Nicole, on her left ring finger as she raised her hand to her husband's chest, witnesses told investigators. Chad Oulson died from the wound.

Michaels asked for a September pretrial hearing due to a June trial he is participating in. He expected that Orlando trial to take close to two weeks.

“There's more discovery to come yet our way,” Michaels said during the hearing. “There are a lot of depositions to be taken. We're conducting our own investigation… so it's going to be a long process in terms of being able to properly prepare this case for trial.”

Nicole Oulson and her lawyers, TJ Grimaldi and Stephen Leal, attended the hearing.

“We're not surprised that it's going to take a while for them to do their discovery or they claim it's going to take awhile for their discovery,” Grimaldi said. “We're not surprised that they're waiving speedy trial. Those are things that typically happen in these types of cases, especially cases that are going to take a lot of investigation.”

Tom Jackson

Tom Jackson’s baseball card — if he had one — would report he throws left, writes right. In his columns and blog, “The Right Stuff,” southpaw Jackson provides insight into the evolving human condition from a distinctly conservative point of view.Column | Blog